FRIDAY November 1st
I am going to return to Luke 4 again today for it is in this chapter that we see two more names / titles given to Jesus, and they were used by a man who had an unclean spirit. They are found in verse 35 ‘Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.’
As Jesus began to do what he said he would do, which was to proclaim liberty to the captives and to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18) he immediately came into contact with one who was a captive, one who was oppressed and the demon possessing the man was not happy. See he knew that although the enemy held some power, Jesus was far more powerful and he began to speak out concerning Jesus. Now, isn’t it interesting that although men and women will deny who Jesus really is, the devil and the demons affirm it! And what is more they know that when Jesus is about then they know that they are in dire trouble!
For Jesus rebuked the demon and delivered the man from it.
Notice the demon recognised Jesus as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and then as the ‘Holy One from God’.
But let’s also notice that as the Holy One from God, Jesus of Nazareth is more powerful than the devil and his demons! They cannot stay when Jesus is about, in the words of one of Charles Wesley’s hymns ‘Jesus the name high over all . . . angels and men before it fall and devils fear and fly’.
But again let’s notice that in using these two titles, the demon is declaring the deity of the Lord Jesus! As ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ it points to Jesus as a man, for it points to him as being the man called Jesus that everyone at that time would have known about, and then as the ‘Holy One from God’ it points to Jesus as being God and yet from God. Reaffirming all we read in John 1.
I am going to jump ahead a little, and remind us of another occasion where Jesus is referred to as being from Nazareth, with an additional word used which is the title we will turn to in our next devotion. It is in Acts 3 on the occasion when Peter and John are making there way up to the temple at the hour of prayer and they come across a lame man who is begging for alms and in verse 6 Peter says to him ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.’
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—there is power in the name of Jesus, power to disrupt and destroy the devil and demons, power to bring deliverance and healing because it is the name of the One who alone has been sent from God to set the captive free.
Keep speaking, keep singing, keep declaring the wonderful and the powerful name of Jesus of Nazareth.